For Holiday
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Principles Of A Principal
Rabbi Karmi Gross is approaching the Akiva student body
with a fresh, get-involved attitude.
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4316 N. Woodward Ave * South of 14 Mile Road
he principal's office at Aki- was his other brother, an attor-
va Hebrew Day School isn't ney.
behind a glass-enclosed
"In my father's school, I always
counter with a receptionist felt like I owned the place," he
instructing visitors to have a seat said. "I felt that school was my
on a wooden bench.
home. And that's what I want
Instead, Rabbi Karmi Gross here at Akiva. School shouldn't
can be found on the school's be something that children
second floor, between a language- dread."
arts classroom and a guidance-
Rabbi Gross' journey to Akiva
counseling room. The one and Detroit followed a path that
window in his busy office over- started in Miami and went
looks the school playground.
through Israel and Vancouver.
Rabbi Gross can hear the voic- As a high- school teacher, he re-
es of children playing ball on
a cold, sunny November
morning. There have been
days when the rabbi, a Mia-
mi native, has been on that
playground throwing the
football around with the kids.
' So it's no mystery why
among the different text-
books on his bookshelf, both
secular and religious, sits a
smooth, brown football just
waiting to be thrown. It is
perhaps the only "pigskin"
ever found on the bookshelf
of an Orthodox rabbi.
At one moment, there's a
knock on his door, and his 11-
year-old son, Avraham,
comes in just to see Dad. The Rabbi Gross: "Everything we do educates."
fifth-grader is one of five of
Naomi and Rabbi Gross's seven members taking his 12th-graders
children who attend Akiva. Oth- from Miami to Israel.
He was told by the school in Is-
er students see him as a father
as well as administrator. They rael to expect a job when he
see him hugging his children, moved there. The job was 1 1/2
and that's another message he hours a day. He had to eat, he
had to make ends meet, so he
gives.
"Moving the office here from took a yeshiva job working with
downstairs sent a strong mes- young men who were all but
sage," said Rabbi Gross. "I came ready to reject the very tenets of
here with a policy that I'll always Judaism they had been trained
be there for the kids. They feel to uphold throughout their
they can come right in this office. lives.
Rabbi Gross can talk about
I wanted them to understand
that the administration of this dysfunctional paths taken by con-
school cares about them, loves fused young people. The school
them."
allowed students to sit in their
The rabbi said a principal can- dorm all day if they wished and
not hide behind secretaries, doors not attend class. Many came to
and buzzers anymore. It doesn't his class out of boredom. But
send a correct signal to the chil- many still attended class for the
first time in their lives because it
dren.
Rabbi Gross is a man who be- was something they chose to do.
comes ill during school vacations When they got there, Rabbi
if there is no class to teach. His Gross would listen to whatever
late father, Rabbi Alexander it was that was on their minds.
He tells how one young man
Gross, was considered a giant in
the day-school movement, a on his first day did nothing but
founder of the Hebrew Academy scream nonsensically. But later
of Miami. Rabbi Gross has a came the learning. That "scream-
brother who is a day- school prin- er" is now a rabbi.
Rabbi Gross has master's de-
cipal in Edison, N.J. His two sis-
t prs are. day school teachers._He zreesin Jewish studies and_nhi-
-
-
you that some of his greatest
learning came from experiences
he had with other people.
Also, while in Israel, he and
friend Rabbi Baruch Chait put
together an idea for a high school.
For many parts of the religious
community in Israel, secular
studies are phased out from
ninth grade on, with heavy em-
phasis on Talmud studies. Rab-
bi Gross' school was an attempt
to prepare kids for life, to help
them gain secular academics so
that they could make a living.
The idea was radical. While
there were those who loved the
concept, there were other reli-
gious Jews who condemned the
school to failure. When Rabbi
Gross left what he called the "best
yeshiva high school in the world,"
there were an average of 150 ap-
plications for the 25 spots that
were open.
The idea, he said, was to help
children become leaders, people
who could succeed. On the other
hand he wanted to build children
Rabbi Gross'
Akiva Goals:
* More anecdotal evalua-
tions of students.
* Work at making Akiva a
place children and teachers
will love to attend.
• Akiva shouldn't be a
threatening environment.
* Akiva should be a place
where children feel cared
about.
* The administration should
love the children.